Thursday, July 27, 2006
Childhood Memories
Did you people know about the show "Child of our times" ? It's a documentary series, exploring issues on whether children's characters are born natural or nurtured...saw it on TV just now and I find myself hooked for an hour...Today's topic is called "Thanks for the Memories". It explores the deep personal power of memory - discovered when our first memories are formed - and looks at what effect they have on our lives. What happens when a child witnesses the violent breakdown of their parent's relationship? How do they cope with a distracted and angry mother, newly separated from her father?The show did an experiment...When a toddler was left in the room and his mum left him, he started crying and later smiled when his mum went back into his room. This is considered normal. However, when the same experiment was done on a kid called Charlotte, the result was different. She did not cry when her mum left the room and instead, she crawled in the opposite direction. When her mum came back, she ignored her mum and continued to play on her way. The reason was that Charlotte wasn't sure whether her mum loved her......Charlotte's parents had been fighting and quarreling when Charlotte was born and they had not been giving attention to little Charlotte. Their behaviour had a great impact on her, even though Charlotte was just a baby. She could not feel her mum's love and thus chose not to love her mum too...By the time she was one, little Charlotte had learned to hide her fears and sadness and she still doesn't show emotion at the age of two - she hardly ever smiles... Please dun make me sad....
Also, tests were conducted to find out whether people subconsciously remember things they were only exposed to in the womb - or during their first year of life? The answer is yes. These forgotten childhood experiences can have a tangible, physical effect on us decades later. Incredible as it seems, our brain does hold memories of events from around the time of our birth, even though we have no conscious recollection of them.I find this show interesting cos the lessons learnt sure will be helpful. We can't assume that babies dunno anything and in fact they will remember it and grow up with those memories affecting them..... Creating happy childhood memories are very important!! I simply love the show....
dreaming @ 11:11 PM
